Business License
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Business License. Company Consultancy and Business Opening.
Most commercial or business establishments requiring premises or an office, whether open to the public or not, will require a so-called MUNICIPAL OPENING LICENCE to be processed and issued. The licence, as its name suggests, entitles the holder to open an establishment to the public and start business activities there. In the vast majority of cases the Opening Licence will be granted by the corresponding local council, although there are circumstances in which other types of permits issued by higher-level public authorities will be required (hypermarkets and shopping malls, large leisure parks, etc.).
An exemption from the licence requirement applies to most professional activities, such as legal, architectural and engineering practices, for example, although such operations must notify the local council of the activity to be performed, the square metres required, the facilities, etc.
While it may strike those unfamiliar with this area as hard to understand, the processing of a Municipal Opening Licence will vary greatly depending on the local council in question. The reason for this is there is no single legally established system for this type of process, which involves a whole host of different sets of regulations (health and safety, environmental (fumes, noise, waste, etc.), technical codes for disabled access, taxation), in addition to the specific aspects involved in the business in question (health clearance, x-rays, waste collection, etc.). This whole mesh of applicable regulations has led local councils to introduce their own procedures over the course of many years dealing with such issues, leading to a situation today in which processing a licence in one borough rather than another could potentially involve a much more complex and lengthy procedure, quite apart from a difference of more than 300% in the applicable charges.
Nonetheless, all local councils will follow one of two distinct procedures:
1. NEW OPENING LICENCE
2. LICENCE NAME CHANGE
At CYCLO we have more than 12 years' consultancy experience processing this type of licence with the local councils around the region, on the basis of which we set out below what we view as the essential aspects of this type of procedure.
1. NEW OPENING LICENCE
The procedure begins with one fundamental step, although this may not be mandatory at some local councils: what is referred to in certain towns as the "Urban Development Classification Certificate", and in others as the "Urban Development Datasheet". This document must be issued by the local council, following payment of the corresponding fee (not in all cases) indicating whether, according to the local urban development schedule (or 'PGOU'), the desired activity can be undertaken or not on the chosen premises. It may also specify the technical requirements in place in order to open the premises to the public (height restrictions, fumes, soundproofing, etc.). If the document records a negative verdict, please do not purchase or lease the premises as it will be realistically IMPOSSIBLE for you to obtain your licence.
Once this document has been received, you can start the actual procedure itself, which in most cases will in fact involve two parallel procedures: Building Licence and Opening Licence. Both procedures must be performed simultaneously, and neither can be issued without the other (although this is not absolutely clear at some local councils), for one very simple reason: you could be issued a wonderful Building Licence to adapt your premises to your business activity, but find that the Opening Licence will not be issued for some other reason. For example, you need to soundproof your premises to achieve a reduction of -75 dB, but the soundproofing you would require on the ceiling would be almost a metre thick, meaning that the premises would no longer fulfil the minimum height clearance to obtain an Opening Licence! In some cases, for example if the premises are perfectly suited to the activity to be undertaken, and depending on the type of activity in question, a Building Licence may not be required, and only the Opening Licence will need to be issued.
Both licences, Opening and Building, will require a Technical Plan issued by a qualified technician, in most cases a Technical Industrial Engineer, Quantity Surveyor or Architect, setting out not only the distribution of the premises, water, electricity, etc. (in other words the building plans, required for the Building Licence), but also other requirements placed on the premises in order to undertake the activity involved (installations, smoke extractor, soundproofing, disabled access, etc.).
The application, fee payment receipt, plans, applicant's documentation, title of ownership or lease, etc., would make up the documentation to be submitted to complete the administrative paperwork before the local council's internal departments can consider the case. By law, from this point on the local council must issue a verdict within 3 months, although this deadline may be interrupted in the event of any supplementary documentation which the local council may request from the applicant.
Once the Building Licence and Opening Licence have been received, you can begin to refurbish the premises, but cannot open to the public until the professional who drew up the plans certifies that the works have been completed in accordance and presents this confirmation to the local council, which will then, where necessary, send its inspectors to verify that all is correct (technical inspection, taxation inspection, health inspection, in the latter case only if the council has responsibility for this area; otherwise the Health Centre will perform the inspection). Following the inspections and the corresponding reports, with the possibility of requesting changes, modifications or rectifications to certain elements, the local council will issue the corresponding Municipal Opening Licence.
Other documents which may be required: Acoustic Study to verify that the required soundproofing levels are fulfilled, Hygiene Plan in the case of catering facilities, Higher Level Permits (Andalusian Regional Government, Coastal Authority, etc.), along with other specific clearance applicable to certain activities.
It is important to highlight here that the Opening Licence serves to ESTABLISH RIGHTS, meaning that you will have obtained the right to open your establishment to the public, provided that you fulfil the applicable regulations at all times. Nobody can strip you of the right to open your business unless you breach regulations governing such aspects as: noise, opening hours, smoke extraction, health and safety, etc. What is more, a change to the General Urban Development Plan outlawing your activity in the area where your premises are located, once you have been issued with the corresponding licence prior to the change, cannot simply strip you of your licence entitlement. Instead the local council would have to go through an expropriation process, with the corresponding compensation, deadlines, etc.
2. LICENCE NAME CHANGE.
This procedure is much simpler than the above, and is based on the local council's right to be informed of the owner of the establishment, and whether any potential new owner continues to undertake the activity under the same conditions as the previous owner to whom the licence was issued. In other words, you are required to follow this specific procedure to give notice of a change in ownership of the establishment and request that the local council begin the procedure to have the Opening Licence registered under your name.
If the local council finds that the activity you are undertaking is not the same as that stated on the licence, you may be required to start on the New Opening Licence procedure, with all that entails.
During the Licence Name Change procedure you may be visited by the relevant technical, taxation or health inspectors to verify that the conditions are suitable. If they uncover any breach of the regulations applicable at the time of the inspection, you may be required to make the corresponding adjustments prior to the licence being issued.
One particular point: in Andalusia during a name change procedure the local council cannot demand fulfilment of the disabled access regulations if the original Opening Licence was granted prior to the introduction of the regulations (in 1994).
We would advise you to contact CYCLO if you are planning to open a business in our region (Costa del Sol), and not to risk buying or leasing any premises or office space without first having received the necessary guarantees from a professional consultant allowing you to open your business with complete peace of mind.
Copyright 2012 Cyclo.
Avenida Condes de San Isidro, 13 4º 29640 Fuengirola (Malaga) Tel. +34 952 66 50 55 | Fax: +34 952 58 64 54 | Email: info@cyclo.es